5 x Sella

Arnt Egil Nordlien

Arnt Egil Nordlien
Another set of wines from one producer drunk one by one with dinner.

Lessona 2005, Sella
Deep red colour. Fruity nose with hints of cherries, anise, som slate and a light perfume. Young and fruity Lessona in the mouth with a good intensity. Not too ripe, but young and primary. Fine fruit with hints of cherries, minerality and slight slate. Some anise. Fine acidity and quite fresh styled wine. Some tannins showing in the dry finish. This is a nice drink now in it's primary fruit, but I lack a little more complexity. Give it 2-3 years in the cellar.

Bramaterra 2004, Sella
Deep red colour. The nose shows tar, cherries, some darker berries. Some fine floral high-notes and also a light touch of greener aromas. Fullbodied and quite fruity Bramaterra in the mouth. A little fatter than this producers Lessona with more fruit. Cherries, slight tar and floral notes. Medium acidity and some tannins in the back. A light greenish bitter touch in the back. Good Bramaterra and a good wine for the price. But a more modest quality for Sella. Reminds me a little more of Valtellina with the light bitterness on the finish. I prefer the Lessona of these two standard-cuvees.

Bramaterra I Porfidi 2003, Sella
Deep red colour. Fine nose. Quite fruity with hints of tar, autumn leafs and floral high-notes. Fullbodied Vercelli-wine in the mouth with loads of fruit. Young and pure fruit. Cherries, tar and with a fine floral perfume. Not any ripe-feeling. Well-balanced for this vintage. Quite round acids, but fine structure. Lightly sweetish tannins in the back, but still with the bite of the nebbiolo-grape. This is a great Bramaterra in the making and needs some time to develop the fruit more. Great wine. Give it time.

Lessona San Sebastiano allo Zoppo 2004, Sella
Red colour, quite deep. Pretty nose. Tar, tobacco, slate, minerality. Sweet anise. Fine high-notes. Fullbodied Lessona in the mouth. Slim and transparent style. Minerality and tar. Some cherries. Some slate-notes. Fine acidity and some tannins in the back. Still quite round style for nebbiolo. Has loads of stuff and needs a little more time to show more. But this is a great wine. It is a very different style than the Bramaterra I profidi. So much slimmer and more transparent in style. It is a unique style of nebbiolo and a wine that I really like very much.

Lessona Omaggio a Quintino Sella 2003, Sella
As I have understood, there is a kind of goldkapsel-thinking behind this cuvee, bottling the best barrel by itself under this name. Deep red colour. Fruity Lessona on the nose with quite "ripe" fruit for this area. Strawberry-compote, some fine notes of anise, tar and fine floral high-notes. Very pretty nose. Powerful and again controversially fruity style in the mouth. This is a big Lessona with lots of fruit and also a little fatness. But behind that ripe fruitiness there is a lot of fine notes. Anis, tar, florality, minerality. Great depth. Medium acidity and a long and dry tannic end. Perhaps a more Langhe-like Lessona which will benefit with more aging. Great potensial and a very tempting wine that impresses with it's deepness despite the quite obvious fruit and ripeness. I deem it great.

Although being close neighbours there is a noticable difference in the wines from Lessona and Bramaterra. The first being slimmer, more obvious transparent in character. The Bramaterras fatter and fruitier in style. At the end there is of course the Omaggio a Quintino which makes a complete disorder out of it all.
 
Although being close neighbours there is a noticable difference in the wines from Lessona and Bramaterra. The first being slimmer, more obvious transparent in character. The Bramaterras fatter and fruitier in style.

The Bramaterra has more of a mix, too, as I understand (3 fruit-filled, fun-loving varities compared to the 2 of the Lessona, which is mostly nebbiolo)

That Zoppo sounds nice. I have to try it sometime.
 
The Lessona is 80% Nebbiolo and 20% Vespolina, the Bramaterra includes some Croatina. By themselves, Croatina is rather tough, even coarse, and Vespolina complex and intriguing (Sella kept a little V. seperate last vintage, and I tasted a pure Croatina in Boca.)

The soils are very different, too.

I find that the Lessonas are more rounded and the Bramaterras more wiry, almost Mourvedre-ish. I liked the Lessonas more initially but Bramaterra is sneaking up on me.
 
originally posted by Oliver McCrum:
The Lessona is 80% Nebbiolo and 20% Vespolina, the Bramaterra includes some Croatina. By themselves, Croatina is rather tough, even coarse, and Vespolina complex and intriguing (Sella kept a little V. seperate last vintage, and I tasted a pure Croatina in Boca.)

The soils are very different, too.

I find that the Lessonas are more rounded and the Bramaterras more wiry, almost Mourvedre-ish. I liked the Lessonas more initially but Bramaterra is sneaking up on me.

Thanks for the reply. I am very interested in these northernly nebbiolos and unfortunately not too many producers are around these days. I have tasted a couple of vintages of Giuseppe Filippo Barni whose Bramaterra is also a very fine wine. But it would be nice to see more wines and more producers from this area to get a broader perspective.
 
originally posted by Bwood:
I've been looking for the '04 Zoppo (and "regular" Lessona). Thanks for the notes.

Have you checked PJ's in NYC? They still had them last I looked.

Mark Lipton
 
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